This video should be the default standard to reference for all social media self proclaimed experts that like to crap on and make blanket statements about Subaru.
@@brianm.595 but if you had comprehended what he was saying you would understand why certain models, for a specific period of time with a couple engine variants had HG issues. All car manufacturers f*ck up from time to time and as someone who works on cars constantly I can assure you, Ford, Jeep and also Honda have more overall issues than Subaru, that’s a given.
Agree man, I get comments like that from boy racers all the time that claim Subaru are the most unreliable cars blah blah blah. They bought an STI that was abused to shit and never took care of it. Of course because they had one bad experience it makes them haters for life. I myself have never seen this issue for over 15 years of owning Subaru's.
@@ionicxti 17 years old none at all, and it’s a turbo model but I have spent a lot of time and money on maintenance to keep the car ‘as new’, most people could not be bothered doing that, they lose interest after a while and move on. I also own 4 other cars, including a much newer Forester, it’s not as good as the 04XT.
The You Tubes needs more channels run by qualified people like you. Thanks very much for the in depth info on this issue. Take care, and have a great day.
I fried my n/a EJ25 head gaskets at about 100,000 miles when I had a coolant leak. Pulled my heads, had them shaved, grinded the cylinder walls, lapped the valves and used OEM gaskets and new bolts from the dealer. She ran even better once I got her back together!
@@cruzanbum3108 Thats not bad at all. My buddy is talking about selling me his 07 outback. Its over heating. The only thing that gives me pause is the cost of reman heads if they are needed.
@@theeasternfront6436 I’m heaving a machine shop here in Salem OR do mine, highest rated shop I could find. Clean, pressure test, vacuum test, and reman the heads so they have a good surface for the head gaskets. $140 a head, so $280 altogether. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Beats me why Subaru didn't produce all its engines with the MLS gaskets in the first place as soon as it was recognized that the standard gaskets were prone to inevitable failure.
Old comment, but they probably had already made a dozen of them plus the money spent on that design, so they preferred not to loose money and made more from repairs
I am buying head gaskets from the local Subaru dealer but they can't tell me if they are MLS gaskets. To me they sure look like single layer. 2006 Forster LL Bean last 8 of the VIN 6H707820 gasket part number 11044AA630. Anyone have any idea? TY
My 98 Subaru Outback has over 300,000 miles pushing 400,000 miles still on its original engine and transmission head gasket is original I got the head gasket checked it’s not failing. That car was my 1st car when I was 17 now like 24 years later still driving it I always maintained it
Once again sir - your information is spot on! I have a 2010 Impreza 2.5 NA SOHC (EJ253). It started visibly leaking oil from the driver side HG around 100K. The passenger side didn't seem to be leaking much at all. ***Why is that??*** The engine never overheated or showed signs of coolant mixing with the oil. I pulled the engine and replaced the HGs with the Fel-Pro MLS gaskets and the engine now has about 186K miles with no leaks. p.s. I am still waiting on a complete video tour of the new MAC tool cart 😊 Anyone else?
Just finished a 2006 EJ253 head gasket replacement. After watching some of your videos I was confident enough and pulled the motor and tackled it. There was no milky oil, but it was pushing coolant out and overheating around cylinder #4. Some minor oil leaking externally but not bad. Upon pulling it and looking at the gasket, I could see the spot where the HG coating failed and the coolant passage was connected to the cylinder. Used the newer MLS gasket 11044AA642 and replaced both sides. Second side showed signs of failing soon. Two exh valve guides on the affected cylinder migrated and needed replacing, so be sure to check those. 130k miles on it and it runs really well now after the engine rebuild and all fluids changed. Used genuine Idemitsu Type HP trans fluid and it is pretty smooth now.
Every video I watch of yours going into depth like this, I can never find anything to disagree on. I preach exactly this to my customers/fellow mechanics that ask. Same with the headbolts. Nice work.
I would love a written version of this information. Engine numbers and the vehicle models they went into, etc to make it easier to buy the right Subaru.
I’ve been looking to see why people say Subarus were unreliable do to head gaskets. There is no real good explanation why. Your video is the one source I found that explains it and on what engines. Much help man. Subscribed.
I have a 04 Outback with approximately 104,000 miles. Had the head gaskets replaced. $2,400 at dealer. Also replaced the timing belt and water pump, while engine was apart. It is a great little car, but spending the same amount of money the car is worth hurts my head. When it is running it reminds me of a little diesel tractor. Thanks Mr. Subaru!
Thanks for posting. I'm going to share this video with several others. I have a 97 Legacy wagon (EJ22). Been my daily driver for 14 years, 233,000 miles with no signs of quitting. Best car I've ever owned. Wife has a 2013 Impreza 2.0. Been a great car thus far also
I’ve got an 05 outback with 195,000 miles and no signs of head gasket failure yet. But with mr Subaru’s videos I have been able keep up with the preventative maintenance. Just hoping the head gasket doesn’t blow anytime soon. But if it does will definitely use the mls Subaru head gasket. Thanks for the video
200K on any vehicle you're more likely to start losing things like a head gasket, my dads big block lost it's HG at 220K. Sounds like when/if yours goes it's not a factory defect.
I just completed my head gasket and engine reseal and verified no leaks , it was a big job , but thanks to Mr Subaru I received the right information to do this job the correct way! With the Subaru MLS head gaskets , torqued it in the pattern , and had the heads I put on their machined ! It runs a lot better now more power, better idle and hopefully I can say no more engine fluid leaks !
I couldn’t imagine how much it’d be for it all to be installed because while I was in the process I had to replace a bunch of other parts not only the head gaskets including timing kit, $300 , motor mounts $250 , seals and gasket kits , inner timing covers were broken $50 , replaced those : upper radiator hose needed replaced , head job at machine shop was $165 , and a bunch of other hoses that were brittle needed replaced it all added up to $1500! How much do you think the total for all that would of been if I paid for labor ?
Hi, Appreciated reading your message about the MLS head gasket job. Question: How much did you machine off your heads before refitting them? I'm curious to know if you machined off more than usual due to the greater thickness of the MLS gaskets and the possible likelihood of unintentionally lowering the compression ratio.
I have a 2009 Impreza ej253 single cam it had the common external oil leak from the head gaskets. After watching your videos I was comfortable enough pulling the motor and resealing the whole thing. It also needed a valve job so it was good timing. Kinda sad since it only had 120k miles on it but it runs beautiful now!!!!
Jason Truman really?... hey I have a question for you my friend ... I found a 04 forester XT manual with 130k miles... is it a good daily driver? Going to mostly use it for taking my kids to school and work I’m only asking cause this would be my first suburu car
Julian Rodriguez oh yea I wouldn’t hesitate to daily drive that if it is stock. If some kid got a hold of it and cranked the boost up (it is turbo right?) that reduces reliability.
Subaru tech here.. Holy crap, a decent video on subbie headgaskets not full of BS, good work! But... they pretty much all had the problem of combustion gases going into the coolant up until the new timing chain motors around 130k miles. The EZ30's do have issues that mimic a bad headgasket though, they would crack the bank 1 cylinder head, replaced so many of those headgaskets just assuming it was the standard issue for them to come back pressurizing the coolant again only to find out they were cracking the heads! But yes, the new f motors are much better, have not had to replace a single one yet. as far as headgaskets go, use aa610 you will thank me...
Great video, I worked in Sales at Subaru for 10 years and was always baffled by the head gasket thing. I knew there were different versions of the engines but its just crazy the Subaru engineers did happless things to make the head gaskets good. Despite their recent success, had they fixed the head gaskets a while ago they would be selling another 200k cars a year. Nobody wants to buy a car where they have a 5000 repair at 100-120k miles. Luckily, my nephew is a subie tech and he can bang one out in a day and he helps me out. I still own 4 Subarus and my trusty F250 92 460 with 45k miles on it!
It’s about time that someone knowledgeable about Subaru’s made a video about this. Thanks so much for the video with good information! Although, my EJ255 (2006 WRX) had blown head gaskets when I bought it.
MrSubaru1387 Very possible, the car was used (obviously) so I have no clue if it was ever overheated by the previous owner. I did the head gasket job and now it runs great. I truly believe if people just maintain them correctly (and keep an eye on gauges), they can last a long time. The people you see on forums are people who don’t do these things in my opinion.
im glad you made this video, i love learning the true issues and causes and how to properly fix it, now i know what to look for when i look for a used subaru
Thanks you very much for the info!! I have a Legacy 97 with EJ25D (with 405.000 Kms) and I changed 2 times the head gasket. Now I have installed the original MLS head gasket, I hope have no more failures like that. Thanks again! And continue uploading Subaru and farm videos :)
Nice to get this info clearly broken down like this. I have an 03 Forester X with the EJ253 I believe, once it started externally leaking, the car had been consuming oil forever anyway so I was used to topping it off. I drove it for probably 75K miles with that external leak before finally fixing it when it time for some other work. Car still consumes oil but doing great at almost 220k for my daughter, who thankfully does a good job keeping it topped off (and drives stick!)
Looked at a 2007 outback with 118,000 miles. Right side leaking, coolant reservoir low…..walked off the lot disappointed. Thanks for educating us on what to look for.
Thx for clearing this up. I’ve been watching videos on Subaru for a week now since I’m looking to buy an STi next year when my lease is up. This puts me at ease from all the horrid misinformation videos I’ve seen.
This is an amazing video that I stumbled across on the TH-cam home page, great info! I watched every minute of it. It deserves 1,000,000 times the views it has!
My goodness, what great advice. I've got my name down on the new Forester and instantly my wife's family started talking about blown engines. It drove me nuts! Funnily enough, my brother in the UK has a 12 year old Legacy and apart from regular servicing has not not had anything go wrong. My wife's brother-in-law has an Audi Q5 and he hates all the problems he's had from it. I don't know if it's a US production problem but in the UK and in Europe Subaru have a great reputation. Thanks for this great and valuable video. Your advice is gold. All the best.
I think it is because Subaru probably cares more about the Outback than the Forester so all their development and research goes to improving the Outback and making it more reliable. I know that the Outbacks generally are more reliable than the Forester or WRX models which is quite sad because I like the Forester. Plus they've been making the Outback in some form for the past decades so they improved it over each model year.
I have always LOVED Subaru vehicles up until the dreaded head gasket failures and stories from people. It is good to know this information because I have been wanting to own a Subaru. Your information has made me think differently about the brand. Thank you so much! Can you do more videos of this type?
Awesome info! I wish I would have known this when I replaced the head gaskets on my '03 Legacy. From all of the research I did a couple of years ago, it all pointed to the double layer blue Fel-Pro gaskets. I had the heads taken care of by a machine shop as well. So far they've held up, but I'll be keeping an eye out for leaks.
This is a very good, thorough explanation of the HG problems. Unfortunately, I have had 3 subies, each has had HG failures, one with multiple HG failures, all repaired by Subie. Subie would not substitute a felpro gasket when the last one failed since they were picking up the labor costs of the repair. Subie knowingly used poor quality parts, never issued a recall, and advised adding the stop leak. Add to that the poor CVT transmissions, recent recall of over 400k models for PCV problem, and another 40k over electronic parking brake, the lousy power output of the old school boxer engine, and the long history of premature rusting and i will never buy another one. I can say, however, that the AWD system is without a doubt the best there is.
I am sorry about your experience with Subaru. It really depends on the models and years to buy. Always check JD Power or Consumer Reports for the years and models that are known to last and last. A lot of my family have Subaru's since my dad's side family lives in Westchester and my mother's side lives in NYC which gets lots of snow. My uncle has a 2015 with over 110,000 miles with just regular repair and my aunt on my mother's side has a 4th gen Outback with 124,000 miles and both haven't been stranded. My personal vehicle is a 2012 Outback 2.5 limited and that has performed really well with 95,000 miles on it. You can get pretty decent reliable transport with Subaru just know which year and model to buy. We don't trust their performance WRX models firstly because it's not practical for our needs since we need ground clearance during these northeast storms but mostly because it's probably been abused by some teenager doing sick drifts and blowing the engine. Properly maintained, right engine, right year, and these Subarus are known to just last and last. I know of the issues that they have, their Forester and WRX models are known to use up too much oil, in fact, there was a lawsuit against Subaru for just that reason. I am well aware of the issues with this brand but they can build reliable cars that last you just have to find the right ones to buy and check the aforementioned websites for reliability reports.
I have a 2008 Subaru Legacy 3.0r with now 235,000 miles. Last year and when I first got the car I discovered that going up hills in the summer was rather terrifying due to the radiator not being that great. So last year I replaced my radiator and all the coolant or as much as I could with your help from your video. Unfortunately me being new to doing all this I only replaced the transmission cooler lines and the radiator cap with oem parts. Along with some of the clamps. And honestly it worked great. And recently with my scan tool I noticed that the temperature was slightly high not overheating and still within operating temperature range but a lot higher than normal. And I realized that it was a thermostat problem. And that it was probably the original thermostat LOL. So another complete and total coolant flush later the new thermostat was in and the car with its better radiator was running almost 15° cooler. That’s where my second mistake came in, not replacing the old radiator hoses as the top one burst. So another coolant flush later and all new OEM hoses and New hose clamps, I learned like you said in this video if you’re going to do the job do it right the first time. Fortunately for me I bought all OEM parts other than the radiator itself and the car has been running great ever since. Although I still do check for leaks underneath the car as I am paranoid because high mileage car lol.
Thanks. I have a 2011 2.5i OB for my daughter. It has less than 60K miles. I bought it used 2 years ago with 40K miles on it from my dealer. I had almost all of the fluids replaced recently, including the transmission fluid and front and rear diffs. It was the 60K full service with trans and diffs added. I checked and the coolant wasn't changed. It surprised me that will the brake line flush, throttle body, oil, fuel injector, etc... coolant wasn't part of it. I'll make sure that is done. The dealer was questioning why I wanted to change the trans fluid, and while it wasn't driven hard, it was 8 years old. I think the coolant should be done too.
I don’t subscribe people on TH-cam for their cool content. I subscribe people who actually know his or her stuff. Great explanation this video show be played at every Subaru dealer’ show room.
Thanks. My 2014 Crosstrek with 113,000 km is starting to age and I'm beginning to get the courage to work on my car. Maybe not a head gasket, but I've done brakes, spark plugs and PCV. Front wheel bearings are due when it gets warm enough to work outside. Fingers crossed my FB20B is not vulnerable as you mentioned.
Thanks for this video!!! I have been driving Subarus for 20 years and love the cars. I tend to buy them with head gasket issues and can find them pretty cheap up here in MN!! So I have done the head gasket job several times over the years and I do exactly what you recommend with getting the heads gone thru!!! BUt my question to you is. Knowing these were such an issue, why didn't subaru use the better gasket right away??? Seems like that would be a simple fix for them and would correct the tarnished rep for the brand. Maybe you covered this in another video. Just found your stuff and your doing a great job with what I've seen!! My current Subaru is an 05 Outback with the 3.0L motor!! First one I've owned and love the power and smoothness of this motor. The thing rips!!! The only complaint would be the fuel mileage to some level but won't keep me from buying another one. Running premium fuel in it, which is recommended, it gets right around what my 2.5D motors have run in the summer anyway or within a mile or 2 per gallon. In the winter the 2.5L did drop off but just not as much as the 3.0L. Is there a generation of this motor that is better?? I'd like to get a gen 2 outback with the 3.0L as well one day as well? ANyway I'll quit bugging you for now!! Thank you Sir!!
Excellent video. I do not have any issues with my beloved 2002 WRX EJ20 (my toy car) but my son's 2001 liberty 2.5l single cam had a bad oil leak on the left bank. It grew to be a total head gasket failure with oil and water mixed to a cream slop. A good replacement low mileage engine was purchased and the heads removed, same single plane gaskets. I had the heads decked and all valves and gear checked and used the genuine multi layer gaskets as per this video. The car has been running again for a year and is perfect. I'd like you to do a video of how to adjust the EJ20 turbo engines tappets the correct way.
First, thank you for providing solid and complete answers. I am helping my son to shop for a used Impreza, and I really needed to know to truth (there are SO many supposed-expert opinions out there). But I am left with one question: Since Subaru was aware of the problem on the 2.5, and had a better gasket in their inventory, why didn't they just make a running change in manufacture, and use the bullet-proof solution?
I wish I knew. I'm sure cost played a part in it. If the MLS turbo gaskets were let's say $5 more than the single layer, and they made 1,500,000 cars. That gasket change would have cost them $7.5 million over the production run. Just a guess.
So I just bought a 2002 Outback. It has new MLS gaskets, valve cover gaskets, timing belt, water pump, intake/exhaust gaskets, thermostat and a bunch of other things. The weird part is, it runs and stays at operating temp no problem at idle but as soon as you drive it the temps climb. Park it and the temps go back to normal. There are no leaks that i can see, no smoke and the engine runs perfectly fine. I don't know what kind of parts were used on it but it all seems to be done fairly well. I have no idea what to do from here on..
Not a Subaru owner, but am miffed to why Subaru would not automatically supersede the original HG with the MLS at the parts counter. Maybe I missed something in this segment.
@@MR_Garage Changes of ownership, imho, lead to degradations in maintenance as successive owners are less and less invested in maintenance and repairs; coupled with the high cost or repairs, people junk them before repairing them. And, the manufacturers only desire is that they test new with high CAFE mileage numbers and then survive the Federal and State emissions controls mandates during the required warranty period. In short there are a lot of non-durability, non-design issues factored into vehicle life. Getting high miles of operation on a car these days is like being concerned about driving for good fuel economy (not hypermiling, just being gentle on the throttle and anticipating slowdowns and letting up on the throttle). And then there's statistics. A well-made unit has to end up in the hands of a caring owner. Most units, well-made or not, end up in the hands of un-caring owners because there are more of them. The Subaru head gasket problem is a different issue. It was a mistake and the mistake was made by a brand who's owners actually, for the most part, care and take care of their vehicles.
@@brianhilligoss not many cars make it to a hundred thousand miles? Dude it's 2020 not 1965more cars on the road than ever have over a hundred thousand miles it's not even a milestone anymore it's an expectation
Had a 2007 Impreza. I think it had the EJ253. When Subaru issued the bulletin to put the "conditioner" in the coolant. So this (your vid) explains a lot of what was going on. I sold the car several years ago. Had about 80k on it. No issues at the time. The person who bought from the person who bought it from me totaled it so I guess that's one way to avoid gasket failure!
Wow I don't even own or would never buy a Subaru (which seems to be a great car to have a thriving mechanic business with). I buy boring Accords "wink". Just stopped by to say this is one of the most informative videos I've seen. You have to really know some things to just not blindly follow manufacturer recommendations.
Man, sure wish I could turn back time now that I’ve seen this. Bought a bunch of stuff from a highly rated local Ebay seller that were 99% oem so I could have my mechanic do the heads, valve covers, water pump, timing belt, etc. That 1% was a six star head gasket. Now it’s failing. At the time, I had no idea it wasn’t oem but that’s on me, rookie mistake. Another great vid and invaluable info!
Everything i heard in this video sounded correct. I'm not strictly a Subaru tech, but I am a professional tech and I've worked on a lot of Subarus and done plenty of head gaskets on the engine models you said, and only one set of head gaskets on a different Subaru engine.
Thanks for going over this subject in so much detail. Have a 1998 legacy outback sedan with the 2.2L that is still running great at 231,000 miles! Fingers crossed going to run it till it dies.
You forgot to mention block straightness. I have experienced more than one warped block. Had to refinish my 2000 Impreza 2.2 block due to .0025” warpage. Heads were straight but new gaskets failed. Pulled heads again and checked block with straightedge. Had to refinish block. Used sandpaper on glass laying on a straight LS cylinder head. Worked perfectly and I know it’s straight plus I know how much metal was taken off by my “machining”. Plus I can see and feel the block and cylinder head finish. Much smoother than any machine shop finish I’ve received.
Well Mr. Subaru, I didn't see this video until today, just finished doing gaskets and a block on my 2005 Legacy GT wagon. Fel Pro MLS head gaskets were put into my car and I was under the impression they were pretty good. Heads were properly machined and new shortblock was installed. Wish my head gaskets luck!
Just a FYI for everyone in 2010 Subaru went to this MLS from the turbo 2.5 engines. The turbo engines also had semi closed deck blocks so Subaru also changed all the n/a 2.5s to the semi closed deck blocks at that time and Subaru head gaskets are made by Victor Reinz also
@@sparklehorse02 2010 Forester, 2.5 SOHC, NA: I had to replace the HG on my Forester 20k miles ago. Felpro MLS, resurfaced the surfaces with sandpaper glued to a nice flat formica covered board. That said best practice is to do what Mr. Subaru says and use the Subaru MLS gasket.
Amen thank you 🙏 all 3 of my Subaru’s no issues EJ20 GC8 WRX (Australia) 04 Impreza NA wagon and 04 Outback known as Legacy in USA market with 6 cylinder 3L no issues. My WRX I did a replacement for a just in case measure as it’s a 99 model cost $800 AUD also upgraded to process west top mount
I had to back up the video several times and turn up the volume to hear your recommended gasket type. Too quick and quiet for not being able to stress enough. Otherwise awesome, now subscribed.
I worked at a Subaru dealership and I've worked on a lot of all types of cars including euro...all alloy block engines r prone to head gasket failure IF the engine wasn't babied cold ...the block surface concaves from work hardening from the fire ring in the gasket ..the gasket flutters 0.005-0.0010mm when the engine is cold and there's an increase in clearance between head and block surfaces ..this is by far the main cause and we had dozens of ppl who didn't listen and plane the block and on reasemble EVEN WITH the top quality gaskets used and it won't show up on cylinder leakage test
In 20 years of working on and owning Subarus, I have found three issues on the headgasket failures with phase 1 and phase 2 EJ25s. First, the coolant not being changed at least every 60k on the blue (or every 30k with the green coolant). I consider it "severe duty" here in Colorado because of the temperature changes and going up into the mountains. The coolant builds up carbonic acid from the combustion process and that would eat the coated gaskets especially. Second, the adding of tap water instead of distilled water (never use de-ioned in an automotive cooling system). Using water with the minerals still in will create electrolysis and etch all the metals, again deteriorating the headgasket. Third, allowing the coolant to run low, creating steam pockets and thermal distortion from the different metals moving at different rates. The factory turbo headgasket doesn`t fail or get the Mahle improved design (they make the factory headgaskets by the way). I have had good luck with the blue Fel-Pro also. I had a hypothesis that if the EJ25D would have had a retorque procedure on the cylinder heads at the 15k service there may have been fewer failures as well? I know it would have made for a lengthy service but I always wondered why Subaru didn't have a valve lash adjustment in the service schedule too. There used to be this service on the bean can EA cars. Heads being surfaced incorrectly is a problem at many machine shops. They need to have the correct RA and not done with a sander. I recommend new head bolts whether or not the heads were rebuilt (but the valves should be faced as he said).
Great information, Thank you. I plan to re-watch this and take notes. Your information was so detailed that I would like to write it up into a "Cheat Sheet" of Subaru head gasket issues. Great intel to keep on hand, if someone is shopping for a used Subi.
Yup.. 633 were the bastards that messed my heads up lol.. I remember back when I rebuilt my engine the graphite was gone in many places throughout the HGs. I replaced mine with MLS non graphite SixStars, very similar to the FelPro ones. After the rebuild, my engine hasn’t even have a hiccup, love it! Great video!
Great video. I just pulled the heads off my 2011 Subaru Outback and was surprised to see it came from the factory with the MLS gaskets you recommend. The failure happened at approx. 163,000 miles. Replacing with OEM MLS.
been thinking of buying a subi and my friends tell me "You better have cash to spare, subaru's are great cares but the cheaper ones tend to have alot of issues." sso having videos like this actually explaining the subaru's issues
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Friend of mine is a 27 year Subie Gold Master tech. He said he's replaced at least 1000 of these and he's replaced 5 of them for me through the years. He can do the entire head gasket/timing service in about 2hrs. Don't know how he does it exactly...but here's his take; Don't worry about shaving the heads...don't worry about the valves, seals and anything else. Clean the surfaces up toss the old bolts and he said with VERY rare exception...unless you've overheated...your heads and valves are fine(he said "you'll know" ). Also, he said the BOLTS are more important than the gasket itself. So long as you buy new SUBARU bolts and properly install them...he's used the el cheapo gaskets off of Flea Bay with no issues(as long as they're MLS and no lamanation.) He would REFUSE to do the job without at least the Subaru bolts. Also, your waterpump does NOT need to be replaced...ever...unless it fails...so don't worry about it when you're doing the timing service. He rarely saw Subie WP's fail and many of them go over 300k miles without issues.
the main problem for the people tuning their turbo subarus is they are increasing the cylinder pressure and generally stretching head bolts, and blowing out the gasket, in this case the problem is not the gasket, but the bolts.......turbo models take a really long time to blow(if they do at all), mine failed in my FXT at 213k, but you also gotta look at the environment, where this car was operated temps during winter regularly go below 0F(as far down as -40F) and those heat cycles caused my heads to warp and leak, the gaskets did not fail because the gasket was bad, but because the heads straight up warped due to all the heat cycling, during my rebuild I had to use tomei 1.2mm head gaskets to keep my timing belt tensioning properly and my compresssion ratio correct(when the heads and block were milled the camshafts became closer to the crankshaft making the timing belt too long with stock thickness gaskets)
i had a ez 36 drivers side bank had a external leak that i had done the job about 3 months ago and at the Subaru that i work for we use the m.l.s head gaskets on every ej-251-253 we dont sell the single layer ones due to the failed coating and as a tech we stop using the 'stop leak' because of the problems we have seen other then that was a grate vid.
My well maintained, garage kept, 2016 Subaru Outback 3.6R with 48K miles on it has a head gasket leak. The leak was discovered by Subaru mechanics today at the dealership. Good thing I got the extended warranty.
Great video.I had. SOHC 2.5 that had a drip a day leak from the head gasket. Other than the slight oil burnt smell it was okay. My 2011 forest eats oil. lol.
Excellent video and explanation. Great to know which engines and gaskets are prone to failure. Only suggestion is turn up recording volume as it's hard to hear unless it's turned all the way up!
When I bought my 2010 Impreza, all the online chatter at the time was that the head gasket problem was solved and I would have no issue. WRONG! 120k miles, oil nearly pouring out the bottom of the driver's side head. I did the head gasket job myself, but took the heads to a local Subaru engine rebuilder for a full checkout and rebuild. As much as we love our Subaru, the fact that this problem began in '96 and continued until 2012 is a complete deal-breaker. What it tells us is that behind the scenes there are serious operational problems at Subaru. The overall Subaru design concept is fantastic for those of us that live in the mountains, but the company kills the concept with its pencil pushers. Never again.
I hit a deer with my first 2010 Impreza. I then bought another used 2010 Impreza with 121k miles on it. I had the parts for a complete timing belt replacement for the first car that I never was able to use. I inspected the areas where the heads and block come together and I did not see any evidence of oil leaks before I bought the car. It started to show oil seepage shortly after buying it. Lucky for me, I simply bought the better grade head gaskets used in the STI engines and installed them at the same time that I replaced the timing belt. What I find odd is that my wife's 2009 Forester has never had a head gasket leak. All three of these Subaru vehicles use the EJ253 engine. I am not sure if the Forester had the better gaskets put in at the factory or not.
My family and I have (and had) many Subies. No issues at all. My 91 Toyota Supra did tho. Those straight 6s 7MGTE engines were notorious for head gasket issues.
I have an EJ25D in my '97 Legacy GT and I THINK I remember the guy I bought it from telling me he had replaced the head gaskets. He apparently owned it for years, but it developed an issue where it wouldn't start and he didn't have the time or money to try and fix it, so I scored it for $1150. After a couple weeks of fiddling and testing, it turned out it was just the wire that connected the fuel pump relay to the fuel pump had some kinda short, so after a couple more weeks of looking at wiring diagrams to make sure I had the right wire on both sides, I just clipped it and spliced in my own wire. Started right up, no problem. I really hope I won't have to replace the head gaskets anytime soon. I'm at about 240,000 miles and the engine still purrs like a kitten, responds exactly when I want it to, and is all-in-all the most reliable car I've ever owned. Just finished fixing a battery issue, about to rebuild my power steering pump to stop it leaking, and then I've got to find a clogged drain somewhere that's causing a leak that's running through the foam of the console and dripping out the bottom on the passenger side. Yeah, it's still a bit of a project, but at least it's a project that will hopefully, with some more careful care than I've had the time or money to give up until recently, keep running for many more years to come.
I might be able to help with that. My dad has always said that if it says lifetime it means the lifetime of the part. lol. Sometimes it's short and sometimes it's long. In either case the company is usually out of business when you need it warrantied.
It was always a worthless term. Just a spin/B.S. Midas mufflers perfected the terminology. Yeah, they meant the "life of the part" which might be just a few weeks. I the life of the car because there are still Ford Model T's still around right?
very well explained detailed video.. i learned alot from this, i think i speak for everyone when i say thank you for shining some light on this topic. thank you
Thanks so much for this video! I've avoided Subaru because of head gasket issues, but now I think we'll take advantage of a nice deal on a low-mileage Outlander, with my concerns now put to rest.
I think you managed to tell us everything except the years and models affected. I’ve done some more research and found that everything built after 2012 uses the multi layer gasket you mentioned. Most of us just want to know if our cars are affected so we can plan accordingly. Thanks.
@bizcocounty have a very close look at the edge of the gasket. It protrudes from the edge of the block in a few locations where the gasket is not the same shape as the block deck. In some of these locations it is even possible to separate the layers of gasket with your fingernail. If you can't get past all the things in the way above the engine you can access it very easily from below the car.
I bought a 2008 legacy back in the day due to the huge cult following convinced me they are great. I remember the old Subaru loyal would not die. So I bought one. Loved how it drove and looked but I will never buy one again or recommend a person to buy one. Way too many things fail on Subaru from 120k down compared to there competitors. And the maintenance on these compared the competitors is also out of line. So why am I watching this video? I’m here to learn. I’m in the field You sir are doing an excellent job and I appreciate your knowledge. Now I’m off to a Jeep channel to find out why those are not built right. Goodnight mr Subaru
Been monitoring external oil leak on 07 Legacy EJ253 for 8 years (now has 130k miles), so far no contamination between oil and coolant. Have to top off about 1.5-quart between 5000-mi oil changes. I wish I could do my own work on this one, but I really don't want to have to pull the engine out.
I have an 04 impreza obs 2.5L and the gaskets are weaping oil. Coolant is not being consumed, I do have to top up the oil about 0.5L between oil changes but I can't tell whether that's a combination of burning the oil and weeping. A large fraction of the oil consumption is from weeping. No problems yet, just monitoring as well. Pretty sure I have ye ol graphite gaskets :S
2006 Forester EJ253 engine. Leaks a little oil on both HG. A drop a night in the driveway . Monitoring oil consumption. No a big deal yet 1 quart for every 3000 miles. Car only 81000. If you stay on top of things and do regular maintenance it should last a few more thousands.
I have the last generation H6 engine, no head gasket issue and I have almost hit 100,000 miles on it. It does burn a little oil, nothing crazy, but no repairs needed on that car at all. It has been a durable car that is great in the snow, and it has the 5 speed automatic not the CVT which has opened a new can of worms for Subaru. Thanks for this video, I thought it was only a few H4 engines that had this issue and it totally confirms that. That graphite on the head gasket - I wonder why they did that on those three engines?
Wish I knew this info years ago when I had a seized engine on my 02 Impreza Outback Sport @ 74k due to a bad head gasket. Cost me a TON of money to get a refurb (used) Subie replacement engine. I swore off Subaru after that. Not because they don't make a good product, but because Subaru USA wouldn't step up to the plate and deal with the issue properly. The answer to me was essentially - not our problem, you're on your own. Crappy customer service. PS: Great video! Wish Subaru had more people like you working for them.
Totally agree with you on the coolant change in fact for the 3.6 R it says 12 years or 120k I took that in half and did it six years I did it at about 78K on my 3.6 R all I did was a drain and refill from the Radiator The engine cold and the thermostat shut so I didn’t get the block but I will do it again this summer!
First video of yours I’ve seen. I’m so jaded I was sure it was going to be more misinformation and Subaru hate. When you started explaining the issues of the na 2.5 dohc from 98 and the variations of the successor sohc, I knew you knew. Subscribed right away. Keep it up!
I just bought my dad's 2010 Forester. Started seeing these headgasket posts online. Asked my mechanic, Master shop, 80 plus yrs in business, Fleet servicers for local PD, been using these guys for 26 yrs. I trust them, literally, with my and my kids life. Shop master(been working there for 40 yrs) said they've NEVER had any Subaru with an HG problem. Never. Not "never" as in "rarely." Never as in Never. Told me not to worry about it. Next time they have it, (for timing belt) they'll take a glance as best they can without taking things apart, look for any potential risk factors, replace my coolant, but don't worry.
Lol maaaan i bought my first subi and 3 months after buying headgaskets went looks like im tearing her down replacing gaskets timing an water pump :/ thanks for the info im familiar with boxster engines after doing my research but didnt hve this info AWSOME vid thnk you. A good majority out there ive seen in the shop recommend to use the exact same gasket number you said not to use and hve it fail again great information definitely subing A+
BEST VIDEO EVER on Subaru head gasket issues !!!!!!I absolutely learned so much, and you dispelled so many myths... I have a normally aspirated, 2009 Subaru outback that has been meticulously cared for, coolant changed early, best high-quality oil’s and filters, babied the car... So far no problems for 130,000 miles. Is mine a single layer head gasket that definitely will need to be replaced ??? I was hoping to get 300,000 miles out of this car...If the head gasket goes, I want you to repair it, we only have a subpar dealer in town. Thanks so much for an awesome, instructional video!!!!! Do you work close to Pennsylvania?
I bought a 2004 Subaru Impreza with head gaskets that were done at 50k miles and they took it to an independent shop. I specifically bought the car because it had them done and 70k miles later I might have to redo them again. This is why I don’t trust anyone but myself to work on my cars. I bet the mechanics didn’t recondition the heads. It’s an extra $100 but completely worth it. I did them on my 98 Legacy GT and paid the extra money to redo the heads. I’m still in the process of of troubleshooting a misfire on cylinder 4 on start up that goes away after 5 seconds. Spark plugs and wires are done, fuel injector is next and coil pack. If that doesn’t work I’m just going to say screw it and sea foam the engine. If not radiator is coming out and leak test is next since compression test was over 200.
Thanks for the info shared on Subaru head gasket. I have 2009 Subaru Forester X 2.5L SOHC non Turbo. I am confused if the MLS head gasket you held up will fit in my subaru engine because the lining and holes provision looks different in the picture. Can you help me out here ? Tanner
Is the follow up video going to cover all of the models with cracked windshields Subaru refuses to acknowledge? I sense a theme here. I really like the 2020 Outback but if Subaru can’t stand behind their products, count me out.
great explanation! i was about to buy a ej25 outback from the dark ages (around 2005). checked if some critical spares were available in my country (not many subarus in argentina) and found out a lot of head gaskets were available for 2.5... seemed suspicious and started researching. now found this, hehe
Best informative and honest video ive ever watched. Your advice is gold sir. If anyone is thinking of tackling this job, or even bringing it in to a professional, watch this first and you wont be ripped off. I feel like I know Kung Fu after watching this
I sold my 2003 Forester with 237k miles on it a few years back with the original head gaskets. My 2005 Saab 9-2x has 191k miles and is still going strong on the original head gaskets. Change my oil and coolant on a regular basis, never had a problem. The Subaru haters are trolls with nothing better to do with their lives and probably have never owned a Subaru. Outside of the late 90’s dual cam 2.5’s and the early 00’s single cam 2.5’s mentioned in the video you shouldn’t have a problem if you properly care for your car.
Just because you didn't have an issue doesn't mean hundreds of thousands of other people didn't, Changed my oil regularly and have now had 2 HG problems in the year i've had the car (140000 mi)
@@caade_1967 I’m going to assume you bought a used car and that you didn’t put 140k miles on your Subaru in one year. In that case it might be a case where the previous owner abused the car and that’s a chance you take with any used car, Subaru or otherwise. The other question is how can you have two head gaskets in a single year if the first repair was done properly? The first head gasket is probably on the previous owner. The second head gasket you can blame on your mechanic who obviously botched the repair. I understand your frustration but there is no way you can blame Subaru for two bad head gaskets in a single year if the first repair had been done properly.
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This video should be the default standard to reference for all social media self proclaimed experts that like to crap on and make blanket statements about Subaru.
@@brianm.595 but if you had comprehended what he was saying you would understand why certain models, for a specific period of time with a couple engine variants had HG issues. All car manufacturers f*ck up from time to time and as someone who works on cars constantly I can assure you, Ford, Jeep and also Honda have more overall issues than Subaru, that’s a given.
Have owned one Subaru ...the head gasket failed twice. I will never own another one
Agree man, I get comments like that from boy racers all the time that claim Subaru are the most unreliable cars blah blah blah. They bought an STI that was abused to shit and never took care of it. Of course because they had one bad experience it makes them haters for life. I myself have never seen this issue for over 15 years of owning Subaru's.
have you had any issues with your forester?
@@ionicxti 17 years old none at all, and it’s a turbo model but I have spent a lot of time and money on maintenance to keep the car ‘as new’, most people could not be bothered doing that, they lose interest after a while and move on. I also own 4 other cars, including a much newer Forester, it’s not as good as the 04XT.
The You Tubes needs more channels run by qualified people like you.
Thanks very much for the in depth info on this issue.
Take care, and have a great day.
I fried my n/a EJ25 head gaskets at about 100,000 miles when I had a coolant leak. Pulled my heads, had them shaved, grinded the cylinder walls, lapped the valves and used OEM gaskets and new bolts from the dealer. She ran even better once I got her back together!
How much did you have into all that?
@@theeasternfront6436 A few hundred and she was back on the road running straight...
@@cruzanbum3108 Thats not bad at all. My buddy is talking about selling me his 07 outback. Its over heating. The only thing that gives me pause is the cost of reman heads if they are needed.
@@theeasternfront6436 Pick-n-Pull!
@@theeasternfront6436 I’m heaving a machine shop here in Salem OR do mine, highest rated shop I could find. Clean, pressure test, vacuum test, and reman the heads so they have a good surface for the head gaskets. $140 a head, so $280 altogether. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Beats me why Subaru didn't produce all its engines with the MLS gaskets in the first place as soon as it was recognized that the standard gaskets were prone to inevitable failure.
The bean counters liked saving 3c per gasket
Old comment, but they probably had already made a dozen of them plus the money spent on that design, so they preferred not to loose money and made more from repairs
It's a nightmare for the company and the customer. Thousands of dollars to repair and the owner is the stuck with the bill.
That would be admitting fault. Companies never admit fault.
I am buying head gaskets from the local Subaru dealer but they can't tell me if they are MLS gaskets. To me they sure look like single layer. 2006 Forster LL Bean last 8 of the VIN 6H707820 gasket part number 11044AA630. Anyone have any idea? TY
My 98 Subaru Outback has over 300,000 miles pushing 400,000 miles still on its original engine and transmission head gasket is original I got the head gasket checked it’s not failing. That car was my 1st car when I was 17 now like 24 years later still driving it I always maintained it
Once again sir - your information is spot on! I have a 2010 Impreza 2.5 NA SOHC (EJ253). It started visibly leaking oil from the driver side HG around 100K. The passenger side didn't seem to be leaking much at all. ***Why is that??*** The engine never overheated or showed signs of coolant mixing with the oil. I pulled the engine and replaced the HGs with the Fel-Pro MLS gaskets and the engine now has about 186K miles with no leaks.
p.s. I am still waiting on a complete video tour of the new MAC tool cart 😊 Anyone else?
Just finished a 2006 EJ253 head gasket replacement. After watching some of your videos I was confident enough and pulled the motor and tackled it. There was no milky oil, but it was pushing coolant out and overheating around cylinder #4. Some minor oil leaking externally but not bad. Upon pulling it and looking at the gasket, I could see the spot where the HG coating failed and the coolant passage was connected to the cylinder. Used the newer MLS gasket 11044AA642 and replaced both sides. Second side showed signs of failing soon. Two exh valve guides on the affected cylinder migrated and needed replacing, so be sure to check those. 130k miles on it and it runs really well now after the engine rebuild and all fluids changed. Used genuine Idemitsu Type HP trans fluid and it is pretty smooth now.
I'm impressed that you did the rebuilding of the engine and head gasket replacement.
Every video I watch of yours going into depth like this, I can never find anything to disagree on. I preach exactly this to my customers/fellow mechanics that ask. Same with the headbolts. Nice work.
I would love a written version of this information. Engine numbers and the vehicle models they went into, etc to make it easier to buy the right Subaru.
Thanks for the update. I knew it wasn't all engines, but didn't know which ones. Love Subaru drivetrains.
I’ve been looking to see why people say Subarus were unreliable do to head gaskets. There is no real good explanation why. Your video is the one source I found that explains it and on what engines.
Much help man. Subscribed.
I have a 04 Outback with approximately 104,000 miles. Had the head gaskets replaced. $2,400 at dealer. Also replaced the timing belt and water pump, while engine was apart. It is a great little car, but spending the same amount of money the car is worth hurts my head. When it is running it reminds me of a little diesel tractor. Thanks Mr. Subaru!
Thanks for posting. I'm going to share this video with several others. I have a 97 Legacy wagon (EJ22). Been my daily driver for 14 years, 233,000 miles with no signs of quitting. Best car I've ever owned. Wife has a 2013 Impreza 2.0. Been a great car thus far also
I’ve got an 05 outback with 195,000 miles and no signs of head gasket failure yet. But with mr Subaru’s videos I have been able keep up with the preventative maintenance. Just hoping the head gasket doesn’t blow anytime soon. But if it does will definitely use the mls Subaru head gasket. Thanks for the video
why did you say YET?
onenikkione because on this model it has the ej253 and it is to be expected sooner or later
200K on any vehicle you're more likely to start losing things like a head gasket, my dads big block lost it's HG at 220K. Sounds like when/if yours goes it's not a factory defect.
Heads haven’t started seeping yet in my 2010 forester, but I’m watching close. Will definitely flush the coolant though. Great video sir. Thank you
I just completed my head gasket and engine reseal and verified no leaks , it was a big job , but thanks to Mr Subaru I received the right information to do this job the correct way! With the Subaru MLS head gaskets , torqued it in the pattern , and had the heads I put on their machined ! It runs a lot better now more power, better idle and hopefully I can say no more engine fluid leaks !
I couldn’t imagine how much it’d be for it all to be installed because while I was in the process I had to replace a bunch of other parts not only the head gaskets including timing kit, $300 , motor mounts $250 , seals and gasket kits , inner timing covers were broken $50 , replaced those : upper radiator hose needed replaced , head job at machine shop was $165 , and a bunch of other hoses that were brittle needed replaced it all added up to $1500! How much do you think the total for all that would of been if I paid for labor ?
Pls the oil drain pan and drive belts were another $100
Hi, Appreciated reading your message about the MLS head gasket job. Question: How much did you machine off your heads before refitting them? I'm curious to know if you machined off more than usual due to the greater thickness of the MLS gaskets and the possible likelihood of unintentionally lowering the compression ratio.
I have a 2009 Impreza ej253 single cam it had the common external oil leak from the head gaskets. After watching your videos I was comfortable enough pulling the motor and resealing the whole thing. It also needed a valve job so it was good timing. Kinda sad since it only had 120k miles on it but it runs beautiful now!!!!
Jason Truman yeah but then it will happen again
Julian Rodriguez nope since I used the upgraded “turbo” gaskets. The rest of the car will be well worn out before the head gaskets go again.
Jason Truman really?... hey I have a question for you my friend ... I found a 04 forester XT manual with 130k miles... is it a good daily driver? Going to mostly use it for taking my kids to school and work I’m only asking cause this would be my first suburu car
Julian Rodriguez oh yea I wouldn’t hesitate to daily drive that if it is stock. If some kid got a hold of it and cranked the boost up (it is turbo right?) that reduces reliability.
Jason Truman yea it’s the XT so it’s turbo
Subaru tech here..
Holy crap, a decent video on subbie headgaskets not full of BS, good work!
But... they pretty much all had the problem of combustion gases going into the coolant up until the new timing chain motors around 130k miles. The EZ30's do have issues that mimic a bad headgasket though, they would crack the bank 1 cylinder head, replaced so many of those headgaskets just assuming it was the standard issue for them to come back pressurizing the coolant again only to find out they were cracking the heads! But yes, the new f motors are much better, have not had to replace a single one yet.
as far as headgaskets go, use aa610 you will thank me...
See some questions about what year/model since minor engine revision codes aren't exactly something we think about in cars often.
EJ251 - 98-03 Impreza 2.5 RS, 99-04 Forester, 99-01 Legacy 4EAT, 99-04 Legacy, 00-01 Outback 4EAT, 02-04 Outback, 03-05 Baja.
EJ252 - 00-02 Legacy 5MT, 00-02 Outback 5MT.
EJ253 - 04-11 Impreza, 05-12 Legacy/Outback, 03-09 Legacy (Europe), 09-12 Legacy (Europe), 03-09 Outback (Europe), 99 Forester, 05-10 Forester, 05+ Baja, 05-06 Saab 9-2x Linear
The EJ253. Is that including the Impreza RS wagon 2.5l??
Great video, I worked in Sales at Subaru for 10 years and was always baffled by the head gasket thing. I knew there were different versions of the engines but its just crazy the Subaru engineers did happless things to make the head gaskets good. Despite their recent success, had they fixed the head gaskets a while ago they would be selling another 200k cars a year. Nobody wants to buy a car where they have a 5000 repair at 100-120k miles. Luckily, my nephew is a subie tech and he can bang one out in a day and he helps me out. I still own 4 Subarus and my trusty F250 92 460 with 45k miles on it!
Glad you enjoyed, yeah, always question some of SOA's decisions on things...
@@MrSubaru1387 probably more Fuji. Then Toyota. I know they are slow to change.
It’s about time that someone knowledgeable about Subaru’s made a video about this. Thanks so much for the video with good information! Although, my EJ255 (2006 WRX) had blown head gaskets when I bought it.
Most likely due to abuse. Which is common for WRXs.
MrSubaru1387 Very possible, the car was used (obviously) so I have no clue if it was ever overheated by the previous owner. I did the head gasket job and now it runs great. I truly believe if people just maintain them correctly (and keep an eye on gauges), they can last a long time. The people you see on forums are people who don’t do these things in my opinion.
@@zachs.9600 Def agree with you. Meticulous maintanence and actually having some mechanical sympathy goes a long way.
im glad you made this video, i love learning the true issues and causes and how to properly fix it, now i know what to look for when i look for a used subaru
Thanks you very much for the info!! I have a Legacy 97 with EJ25D (with 405.000 Kms) and I changed 2 times the head gasket. Now I have installed the original MLS head gasket, I hope have no more failures like that. Thanks again! And continue uploading Subaru and farm videos :)
i needed this video 5 years ago
Nice to get this info clearly broken down like this. I have an 03 Forester X with the EJ253 I believe, once it started externally leaking, the car had been consuming oil forever anyway so I was used to topping it off. I drove it for probably 75K miles with that external leak before finally fixing it when it time for some other work. Car still consumes oil but doing great at almost 220k for my daughter, who thankfully does a good job keeping it topped off (and drives stick!)
Looked at a 2007 outback with 118,000 miles. Right side leaking, coolant reservoir low…..walked off the lot disappointed. Thanks for educating us on what to look for.
Thx for clearing this up. I’ve been watching videos on Subaru for a week now since I’m looking to buy an STi next year when my lease is up. This puts me at ease from all the horrid misinformation videos I’ve seen.
This is an amazing video that I stumbled across on the TH-cam home page, great info! I watched every minute of it. It deserves 1,000,000 times the views it has!
UPDATE: I subscribed, just so you know lol
My 1996 Outback's headgasket failed almost exactly at 120K. Good call!
i have a 1997 Outback with 166000 miles. It has never had a head gasket problem.
My goodness, what great advice.
I've got my name down on the new Forester and instantly my wife's family started talking about blown engines. It drove me nuts!
Funnily enough, my brother in the UK has a 12 year old Legacy and apart from regular servicing has not not had anything go wrong. My wife's brother-in-law has an Audi Q5 and he hates all the problems he's had from it.
I don't know if it's a US production problem but in the UK and in Europe Subaru have a great reputation.
Thanks for this great and valuable video. Your advice is gold.
All the best.
I think it is because Subaru probably cares more about the Outback than the Forester so all their development and research goes to improving the Outback and making it more reliable. I know that the Outbacks generally are more reliable than the Forester or WRX models which is quite sad because I like the Forester. Plus they've been making the Outback in some form for the past decades so they improved it over each model year.
I have always LOVED Subaru vehicles up until the dreaded head gasket failures and stories from people. It is good to know this information because I have been wanting to own a Subaru. Your information has made me think differently about the brand. Thank you so much! Can you do more videos of this type?
i hope they revive STI back and its not be electric shit.. Because its matter!
fans gonna sue company again then
Awesome info! I wish I would have known this when I replaced the head gaskets on my '03 Legacy. From all of the research I did a couple of years ago, it all pointed to the double layer blue Fel-Pro gaskets. I had the heads taken care of by a machine shop as well. So far they've held up, but I'll be keeping an eye out for leaks.
This is a very good, thorough explanation of the HG problems. Unfortunately, I have had 3 subies, each has had HG failures, one with multiple HG failures, all repaired by Subie. Subie would not substitute a felpro gasket when the last one failed since they were picking up the labor costs of the repair. Subie knowingly used poor quality parts, never issued a recall, and advised adding the stop leak. Add to that the poor CVT transmissions, recent recall of over 400k models for PCV problem, and another 40k over electronic parking brake, the lousy power output of the old school boxer engine, and the long history of premature rusting and i will never buy another one. I can say, however, that the AWD system is without a doubt the best there is.
I am sorry about your experience with Subaru. It really depends on the models and years to buy. Always check JD Power or Consumer Reports for the years and models that are known to last and last. A lot of my family have Subaru's since my dad's side family lives in Westchester and my mother's side lives in NYC which gets lots of snow. My uncle has a 2015 with over 110,000 miles with just regular repair and my aunt on my mother's side has a 4th gen Outback with 124,000 miles and both haven't been stranded. My personal vehicle is a 2012 Outback 2.5 limited and that has performed really well with 95,000 miles on it. You can get pretty decent reliable transport with Subaru just know which year and model to buy. We don't trust their performance WRX models firstly because it's not practical for our needs since we need ground clearance during these northeast storms but mostly because it's probably been abused by some teenager doing sick drifts and blowing the engine. Properly maintained, right engine, right year, and these Subarus are known to just last and last. I know of the issues that they have, their Forester and WRX models are known to use up too much oil, in fact, there was a lawsuit against Subaru for just that reason. I am well aware of the issues with this brand but they can build reliable cars that last you just have to find the right ones to buy and check the aforementioned websites for reliability reports.
I have a 2008 Subaru Legacy 3.0r with now 235,000 miles. Last year and when I first got the car I discovered that going up hills in the summer was rather terrifying due to the radiator not being that great. So last year I replaced my radiator and all the coolant or as much as I could with your help from your video. Unfortunately me being new to doing all this I only replaced the transmission cooler lines and the radiator cap with oem parts. Along with some of the clamps. And honestly it worked great. And recently with my scan tool I noticed that the temperature was slightly high not overheating and still within operating temperature range but a lot higher than normal. And I realized that it was a thermostat problem. And that it was probably the original thermostat LOL. So another complete and total coolant flush later the new thermostat was in and the car with its better radiator was running almost 15° cooler. That’s where my second mistake came in, not replacing the old radiator hoses as the top one burst. So another coolant flush later and all new OEM hoses and New hose clamps, I learned like you said in this video if you’re going to do the job do it right the first time. Fortunately for me I bought all OEM parts other than the radiator itself and the car has been running great ever since. Although I still do check for leaks underneath the car as I am paranoid because high mileage car lol.
This video is of biblical importance.
Yes.
“The Boxer Bible”
@@patrickkerner1471 I had the front seal fail on this car then a year later the head gasket failed..6 months later my brother totaled the car. Bye 👋 💵
@@MrSubaru1387 what do you recommend for modified engines?
Thanks. I have a 2011 2.5i OB for my daughter. It has less than 60K miles. I bought it used 2 years ago with 40K miles on it from my dealer. I had almost all of the fluids replaced recently, including the transmission fluid and front and rear diffs. It was the 60K full service with trans and diffs added. I checked and the coolant wasn't changed. It surprised me that will the brake line flush, throttle body, oil, fuel injector, etc... coolant wasn't part of it. I'll make sure that is done. The dealer was questioning why I wanted to change the trans fluid, and while it wasn't driven hard, it was 8 years old. I think the coolant should be done too.
This is good advice... correct ID of the issue with the gaskets.
Just blew my head gasket after 256k in the original engine. I needed this video.
I don’t subscribe people on TH-cam for their cool content. I subscribe people who actually know his or her stuff. Great explanation this video show be played at every Subaru dealer’ show room.
Thanks. My 2014 Crosstrek with 113,000 km is starting to age and I'm beginning to get the courage to work on my car. Maybe not a head gasket, but I've done brakes, spark plugs and PCV. Front wheel bearings are due when it gets warm enough to work outside. Fingers crossed my FB20B is not vulnerable as you mentioned.
How did it go? If you don't mind sharing the repairs made. 🙂
Thanks for this video!!! I have been driving Subarus for 20 years and love the cars. I tend to buy them with head gasket issues and can find them pretty cheap up here in MN!! So I have done the head gasket job several times over the years and I do exactly what you recommend with getting the heads gone thru!!! BUt my question to you is. Knowing these were such an issue, why didn't subaru use the better gasket right away??? Seems like that would be a simple fix for them and would correct the tarnished rep for the brand. Maybe you covered this in another video. Just found your stuff and your doing a great job with what I've seen!! My current Subaru is an 05 Outback with the 3.0L motor!! First one I've owned and love the power and smoothness of this motor. The thing rips!!! The only complaint would be the fuel mileage to some level but won't keep me from buying another one. Running premium fuel in it, which is recommended, it gets right around what my 2.5D motors have run in the summer anyway or within a mile or 2 per gallon. In the winter the 2.5L did drop off but just not as much as the 3.0L. Is there a generation of this motor that is better?? I'd like to get a gen 2 outback with the 3.0L as well one day as well? ANyway I'll quit bugging you for now!! Thank you Sir!!
Excellent video. I do not have any issues with my beloved 2002 WRX EJ20 (my toy car) but my son's 2001 liberty 2.5l single cam had a bad oil leak on the left bank. It grew to be a total head gasket failure with oil and water mixed to a cream slop. A good replacement low mileage engine was purchased and the heads removed, same single plane gaskets. I had the heads decked and all valves and gear checked and used the genuine multi layer gaskets as per this video. The car has been running again for a year and is perfect.
I'd like you to do a video of how to adjust the EJ20 turbo engines tappets the correct way.
First, thank you for providing solid and complete answers. I am helping my son to shop for a used Impreza, and I really needed to know to truth (there are SO many supposed-expert opinions out there). But I am left with one question: Since Subaru was aware of the problem on the 2.5, and had a better gasket in their inventory, why didn't they just make a running change in manufacture, and use the bullet-proof solution?
I wish I knew. I'm sure cost played a part in it. If the MLS turbo gaskets were let's say $5 more than the single layer, and they made 1,500,000 cars. That gasket change would have cost them $7.5 million over the production run. Just a guess.
So I just bought a 2002 Outback. It has new MLS gaskets, valve cover gaskets, timing belt, water pump, intake/exhaust gaskets, thermostat and a bunch of other things. The weird part is, it runs and stays at operating temp no problem at idle but as soon as you drive it the temps climb. Park it and the temps go back to normal. There are no leaks that i can see, no smoke and the engine runs perfectly fine. I don't know what kind of parts were used on it but it all seems to be done fairly well. I have no idea what to do from here on..
Not a Subaru owner, but am miffed to why Subaru would not automatically supersede the original HG with the MLS at the parts counter. Maybe I missed something in this segment.
Mike R they have tons of stock. Plus not many cars make it to 100k miles. The ones that do don’t make it 200k.
@@brianhilligoss Not many cars make it to 100k? What the what? Would love clarification on why you think this.
@@MR_Garage Changes of ownership, imho, lead to degradations in maintenance as successive owners are less and less invested in maintenance and repairs; coupled with the high cost or repairs, people junk them before repairing them. And, the manufacturers only desire is that they test new with high CAFE mileage numbers and then survive the Federal and State emissions controls mandates during the required warranty period. In short there are a lot of non-durability, non-design issues factored into vehicle life. Getting high miles of operation on a car these days is like being concerned about driving for good fuel economy (not hypermiling, just being gentle on the throttle and anticipating slowdowns and letting up on the throttle).
And then there's statistics. A well-made unit has to end up in the hands of a caring owner. Most units, well-made or not, end up in the hands of un-caring owners because there are more of them.
The Subaru head gasket problem is a different issue. It was a mistake and the mistake was made by a brand who's owners actually, for the most part, care and take care of their vehicles.
@@brianhilligoss not many cars make it to a hundred thousand miles? Dude it's 2020 not 1965more cars on the road than ever have over a hundred thousand miles it's not even a milestone anymore it's an expectation
Had a 2007 Impreza. I think it had the EJ253. When Subaru issued the bulletin to put the "conditioner" in the coolant. So this (your vid) explains a lot of what was going on. I sold the car several years ago. Had about 80k on it. No issues at the time. The person who bought from the person who bought it from me totaled it so I guess that's one way to avoid gasket failure!
Wow I don't even own or would never buy a Subaru (which seems to be a great car to have a thriving mechanic business with). I buy boring Accords "wink". Just stopped by to say this is one of the most informative videos I've seen. You have to really know some things to just not blindly follow manufacturer recommendations.
Great report! I went through the gasket replacement process with a 2006 Baja.
Man, sure wish I could turn back time now that I’ve seen this. Bought a bunch of stuff from a highly rated local Ebay seller that were 99% oem so I could have my mechanic do the heads, valve covers, water pump, timing belt, etc. That 1% was a six star head gasket. Now it’s failing. At the time, I had no idea it wasn’t oem but that’s on me, rookie mistake. Another great vid and invaluable info!
Everything i heard in this video sounded correct. I'm not strictly a Subaru tech, but I am a professional tech and I've worked on a lot of Subarus and done plenty of head gaskets on the engine models you said, and only one set of head gaskets on a different Subaru engine.
Thanks for going over this subject in so much detail. Have a 1998 legacy outback sedan with the 2.2L that is still running great at 231,000 miles! Fingers crossed going to run it till it dies.
Best engine ever I got 500k plus out of 92 legacy
You forgot to mention block straightness. I have experienced more than one warped block. Had to refinish my 2000 Impreza 2.2 block due to .0025” warpage. Heads were straight but new gaskets failed. Pulled heads again and checked block with straightedge. Had to refinish block. Used sandpaper on glass laying on a straight LS cylinder head. Worked perfectly and I know it’s straight plus I know how much metal was taken off by my “machining”. Plus I can see and feel the block and cylinder head finish. Much smoother than any machine shop finish I’ve received.
Well Mr. Subaru, I didn't see this video until today, just finished doing gaskets and a block on my 2005 Legacy GT wagon. Fel Pro MLS head gaskets were put into my car and I was under the impression they were pretty good. Heads were properly machined and new shortblock was installed. Wish my head gaskets luck!
I have those same head gaskets in my Forester . Been in there for 6 years with no issues.
@@josephdubiel7129 yeah, I'm at year 3 at 19 pounds of boost on my VF52 and they're holding fine
Great tips. Thanks!. Doing DOHC head gaskets on a 98 Forester L. Probably going to do a video on it also this information is invaluable. Thank you
Just a FYI for everyone in 2010 Subaru went to this MLS from the turbo 2.5 engines. The turbo engines also had semi closed deck blocks so Subaru also changed all the n/a 2.5s to the semi closed deck blocks at that time and Subaru head gaskets are made by Victor Reinz also
bigdaddymak1439 Interesting, but what I gather after much Googling is that only some models got the MLS gaskets in 2010. The 2010 Forester did not.
@@sparklehorse02 yes in 2010 but it would be the 2011 model yr which starts mid yr 2010
bigdaddymak1439 So my 2010 Forester EJ253 has the bad gaskets then. Guess my only hope is if it also had conditioner in the coolant.
@@sparklehorse02
2010 Forester, 2.5 SOHC, NA:
I had to replace the HG on my Forester 20k miles ago. Felpro MLS, resurfaced the surfaces with sandpaper glued to a nice flat formica covered board.
That said best practice is to do what Mr. Subaru says and use the Subaru MLS gasket.
Scootintiki How many miles on your 2010 Forester when the gasket failed?
Amen thank you 🙏 all 3 of my Subaru’s no issues EJ20 GC8 WRX (Australia) 04 Impreza NA wagon and 04 Outback known as Legacy in USA market with 6 cylinder 3L no issues. My WRX I did a replacement for a just in case measure as it’s a 99 model cost $800 AUD also upgraded to process west top mount
I had to back up the video several times and turn up the volume to hear your recommended gasket type. Too quick and quiet for not being able to stress enough. Otherwise awesome, now subscribed.
I worked at a Subaru dealership and I've worked on a lot of all types of cars including euro...all alloy block engines r prone to head gasket failure IF the engine wasn't babied cold ...the block surface concaves from work hardening from the fire ring in the gasket ..the gasket flutters 0.005-0.0010mm when the engine is cold and there's an increase in clearance between head and block surfaces ..this is by far the main cause and we had dozens of ppl who didn't listen and plane the block and on reasemble EVEN WITH the top quality gaskets used and it won't show up on cylinder leakage test
mine is EJ25 from point A to point B, awesome video, keep it up 👍
In 20 years of working on and owning Subarus, I have found three issues on the headgasket failures with phase 1 and phase 2 EJ25s. First, the coolant not being changed at least every 60k on the blue (or every 30k with the green coolant). I consider it "severe duty" here in Colorado because of the temperature changes and going up into the mountains. The coolant builds up carbonic acid from the combustion process and that would eat the coated gaskets especially.
Second, the adding of tap water instead of distilled water (never use de-ioned in an automotive cooling system). Using water with the minerals still in will create electrolysis and etch all the metals, again deteriorating the headgasket.
Third, allowing the coolant to run low, creating steam pockets and thermal distortion from the different metals moving at different rates.
The factory turbo headgasket doesn`t fail or get the Mahle improved design (they make the factory headgaskets by the way). I have had good luck with the blue Fel-Pro also.
I had a hypothesis that if the EJ25D would have had a retorque procedure on the cylinder heads at the 15k service there may have been fewer failures as well? I know it would have made for a lengthy service but I always wondered why Subaru didn't have a valve lash adjustment in the service schedule too. There used to be this service on the bean can EA cars.
Heads being surfaced incorrectly is a problem at many machine shops. They need to have the correct RA and not done with a sander. I recommend new head bolts whether or not the heads were rebuilt (but the valves should be faced as he said).
9:55 , Starts talking bout the Bad HGs not to buy, then 12:13 Good HGs you should buy
¿Junior ?! Thanks bro
Great information, Thank you. I plan to re-watch this and take notes. Your information was so detailed that I would like to write it up into a "Cheat Sheet" of Subaru head gasket issues. Great intel to keep on hand, if someone is shopping for a used Subi.
Yup.. 633 were the bastards that messed my heads up lol.. I remember back when I rebuilt my engine the graphite was gone in many places throughout the HGs. I replaced mine with MLS non graphite SixStars, very similar to the FelPro ones. After the rebuild, my engine hasn’t even have a hiccup, love it! Great video!
Great video. I just pulled the heads off my 2011 Subaru Outback and was surprised to see it came from the factory with the MLS gaskets you recommend. The failure happened at approx. 163,000 miles. Replacing with OEM MLS.
been thinking of buying a subi and my friends tell me "You better have cash to spare, subaru's are great cares but the cheaper ones tend to have alot of issues." sso having videos like this actually explaining the subaru's issues
Toyota Tacoma, best thing you could ever have for dependability and adventure. THE BEST. You will adventure forever in your Tacoma and take it to your grave.
Friend of mine is a 27 year Subie Gold Master tech. He said he's replaced at least 1000 of these and he's replaced 5 of them for me through the years. He can do the entire head gasket/timing service in about 2hrs. Don't know how he does it exactly...but here's his take; Don't worry about shaving the heads...don't worry about the valves, seals and anything else. Clean the surfaces up toss the old bolts and he said with VERY rare exception...unless you've overheated...your heads and valves are fine(he said "you'll know" ). Also, he said the BOLTS are more important than the gasket itself. So long as you buy new SUBARU bolts and properly install them...he's used the el cheapo gaskets off of Flea Bay with no issues(as long as they're MLS and no lamanation.) He would REFUSE to do the job without at least the Subaru bolts. Also, your waterpump does NOT need to be replaced...ever...unless it fails...so don't worry about it when you're doing the timing service. He rarely saw Subie WP's fail and many of them go over 300k miles without issues.
That's about 10 tons of bs and bad advice, if I ever heard it. He's a 27 year hack from your description.
the main problem for the people tuning their turbo subarus is they are increasing the cylinder pressure and generally stretching head bolts, and blowing out the gasket, in this case the problem is not the gasket, but the bolts.......turbo models take a really long time to blow(if they do at all), mine failed in my FXT at 213k, but you also gotta look at the environment, where this car was operated temps during winter regularly go below 0F(as far down as -40F) and those heat cycles caused my heads to warp and leak, the gaskets did not fail because the gasket was bad, but because the heads straight up warped due to all the heat cycling, during my rebuild I had to use tomei 1.2mm head gaskets to keep my timing belt tensioning properly and my compresssion ratio correct(when the heads and block were milled the camshafts became closer to the crankshaft making the timing belt too long with stock thickness gaskets)
Well that's the CO$T of been standing out specifically stupid.
i had a ez 36 drivers side bank had a external leak that i had done the job about 3 months ago and at the Subaru that i work for we use the m.l.s head gaskets on every ej-251-253 we dont sell the single layer ones due to the failed coating and as a tech we stop using the 'stop leak' because of the problems we have seen other then that was a grate vid.
Yeah, I mentioned the hand full of EZ36D failures.
Do you have this information in pdf format (spreadsheet) listing the year, engine model and issue/no issue, recommended repair/don't repair data?
I like this idea!!!
Basically, anything thats EJ25X engine may have the issue. That's most of the 2.5L engines, minus the turbo 2.5
My well maintained, garage kept, 2016 Subaru Outback 3.6R with 48K miles on it has a head gasket leak. The leak was discovered by Subaru mechanics today at the dealership. Good thing I got the extended warranty.
Can you do an ultimate flow chart on subaru, that covers coolants and their life expectancy, timing belts, what gaskets to use, all that stuff?
Oil leak at #4 at about 50,000 mi in my 02 2.5. Cleaned surfaces and Sixstar gaskets worked for me.
Great video.I had. SOHC 2.5 that had a drip a day leak from the head gasket. Other than the slight oil burnt smell it was okay. My 2011 forest eats oil. lol.
Excellent video and explanation. Great to know which engines and gaskets are prone to failure. Only suggestion is turn up recording volume as it's hard to hear unless it's turned all the way up!
Great job on the new video formats. I’ve used several of your diy videos but I love understanding the problems in the depth you cover.
Liked and subscribed.
I'm just about to buy a 2015 WRX
This is a pro video done by a pro mechanic who knows what he's talking about.
When I bought my 2010 Impreza, all the online chatter at the time was that the head gasket problem was solved and I would have no issue. WRONG! 120k miles, oil nearly pouring out the bottom of the driver's side head. I did the head gasket job myself, but took the heads to a local Subaru engine rebuilder for a full checkout and rebuild. As much as we love our Subaru, the fact that this problem began in '96 and continued until 2012 is a complete deal-breaker. What it tells us is that behind the scenes there are serious operational problems at Subaru. The overall Subaru design concept is fantastic for those of us that live in the mountains, but the company kills the concept with its pencil pushers. Never again.
I hit a deer with my first 2010 Impreza. I then bought another used 2010 Impreza with 121k miles on it. I had the parts for a complete timing belt replacement for the first car that I never was able to use. I inspected the areas where the heads and block come together and I did not see any evidence of oil leaks before I bought the car. It started to show oil seepage shortly after buying it.
Lucky for me, I simply bought the better grade head gaskets used in the STI engines and installed them at the same time that I replaced the timing belt. What I find odd is that my wife's 2009 Forester has never had a head gasket leak. All three of these Subaru vehicles use the EJ253 engine. I am not sure if the Forester had the better gaskets put in at the factory or not.
My family and I have (and had) many Subies. No issues at all. My 91 Toyota Supra did tho. Those straight 6s 7MGTE engines were notorious for head gasket issues.
Engineered obsolescence is the industry term
I have an EJ25D in my '97 Legacy GT and I THINK I remember the guy I bought it from telling me he had replaced the head gaskets. He apparently owned it for years, but it developed an issue where it wouldn't start and he didn't have the time or money to try and fix it, so I scored it for $1150. After a couple weeks of fiddling and testing, it turned out it was just the wire that connected the fuel pump relay to the fuel pump had some kinda short, so after a couple more weeks of looking at wiring diagrams to make sure I had the right wire on both sides, I just clipped it and spliced in my own wire. Started right up, no problem.
I really hope I won't have to replace the head gaskets anytime soon. I'm at about 240,000 miles and the engine still purrs like a kitten, responds exactly when I want it to, and is all-in-all the most reliable car I've ever owned. Just finished fixing a battery issue, about to rebuild my power steering pump to stop it leaking, and then I've got to find a clogged drain somewhere that's causing a leak that's running through the foam of the console and dripping out the bottom on the passenger side.
Yeah, it's still a bit of a project, but at least it's a project that will hopefully, with some more careful care than I've had the time or money to give up until recently, keep running for many more years to come.
If you have 240k on the clock those gaskets have absolutely been replaced. good luck with it, enjoy it.
Lifetime is an engineer's term. Totally different life span vs span of time. A lifetime? Who's? Mine? Yours? 30yr 80yr 100yr
I might be able to help with that. My dad has always said that if it says lifetime it means the lifetime of the part. lol. Sometimes it's short and sometimes it's long. In either case the company is usually out of business when you need it warrantied.
It was always a worthless term. Just a spin/B.S. Midas mufflers perfected the terminology.
Yeah, they meant the "life of the part" which might be just a few weeks. I the life of the car because there are still Ford Model T's still around right?
very well explained detailed video.. i learned alot from this, i think i speak for everyone when i say thank you for shining some light on this topic. thank you
Thanks for this! My EJ255’s coolant replacement is a tad late by your recommendations, definitely want to be on top of preventative measures.
Thanks so much for this video! I've avoided Subaru because of head gasket issues, but now I think we'll take advantage of a nice deal on a low-mileage Outlander, with my concerns now put to rest.
I think you managed to tell us everything except the years and models affected. I’ve done some more research and found that everything built after 2012 uses the multi layer gasket you mentioned. Most of us just want to know if our cars are affected so we can plan accordingly.
Thanks.
Have a look at it.
MLS gaskets are easily identifiable from the top of the engine bay.
Even easier if you get under it.
@@notsponsored103 How does one identify the good MLS gasket? Thanks!
@bizcocounty have a very close look at the edge of the gasket. It protrudes from the edge of the block in a few locations where the gasket is not the same shape as the block deck.
In some of these locations it is even possible to separate the layers of gasket with your fingernail.
If you can't get past all the things in the way above the engine you can access it very easily from below the car.
I bought a 2008 legacy back in the day due to the huge cult following convinced me they are great. I remember the old Subaru loyal would not die. So I bought one. Loved how it drove and looked but I will never buy one again or recommend a person to buy one. Way too many things fail on Subaru from 120k down compared to there competitors. And the maintenance on these compared the competitors is also out of line.
So why am I watching this video? I’m here to learn. I’m in the field
You sir are doing an excellent job and I appreciate your knowledge. Now I’m off to a Jeep channel to find out why those are not built right. Goodnight mr Subaru
Been monitoring external oil leak on 07 Legacy EJ253 for 8 years (now has 130k miles), so far no contamination between oil and coolant. Have to top off about 1.5-quart between 5000-mi oil changes.
I wish I could do my own work on this one, but I really don't want to have to pull the engine out.
I have an 04 impreza obs 2.5L and the gaskets are weaping oil. Coolant is not being consumed, I do have to top up the oil about 0.5L between oil changes but I can't tell whether that's a combination of burning the oil and weeping. A large fraction of the oil consumption is from weeping. No problems yet, just monitoring as well. Pretty sure I have ye ol graphite gaskets :S
2006 Forester EJ253 engine. Leaks a little oil on both HG. A drop a night in the driveway . Monitoring oil consumption. No a big deal yet 1 quart for every 3000 miles. Car only 81000. If you stay on top of things and do regular maintenance it should last a few more thousands.
I have the last generation H6 engine, no head gasket issue and I have almost hit 100,000 miles on it. It does burn a little oil, nothing crazy, but no repairs needed on that car at all. It has been a durable car that is great in the snow, and it has the 5 speed automatic not the CVT which has opened a new can of worms for Subaru. Thanks for this video, I thought it was only a few H4 engines that had this issue and it totally confirms that. That graphite on the head gasket - I wonder why they did that on those three engines?
Wish I knew this info years ago when I had a seized engine on my 02 Impreza Outback Sport @ 74k due to a bad head gasket. Cost me a TON of money to get a refurb (used) Subie replacement engine. I swore off Subaru after that. Not because they don't make a good product, but because Subaru USA wouldn't step up to the plate and deal with the issue properly. The answer to me was essentially - not our problem, you're on your own. Crappy customer service.
PS: Great video! Wish Subaru had more people like you working for them.
Totally agree with you on the coolant change in fact for the 3.6 R it says 12 years or 120k I took that in half and did it six years I did it at about 78K on my 3.6 R all I did was a drain and refill from the Radiator The engine cold and the thermostat shut so I didn’t get the block but I will do it again this summer!
First video of yours I’ve seen. I’m so jaded I was sure it was going to be more misinformation and Subaru hate. When you started explaining the issues of the na 2.5 dohc from 98 and the variations of the successor sohc, I knew you knew. Subscribed right away. Keep it up!
I just bought my dad's 2010 Forester. Started seeing these headgasket posts online. Asked my mechanic, Master shop, 80 plus yrs in business, Fleet servicers for local PD, been using these guys for 26 yrs. I trust them, literally, with my and my kids life. Shop master(been working there for 40 yrs) said they've NEVER had any Subaru with an HG problem. Never. Not "never" as in "rarely." Never as in Never. Told me not to worry about it. Next time they have it, (for timing belt) they'll take a glance as best they can without taking things apart, look for any potential risk factors, replace my coolant, but don't worry.
Sounds like he's never worked on a Subaru before! 😂 🤣 😂 🤣
19:10 Talks about why some engine HGs lasted to around 200k miles. Subaru Branded “Stop Leak”
Lol maaaan i bought my first subi and 3 months after buying headgaskets went looks like im tearing her down replacing gaskets timing an water pump :/ thanks for the info im familiar with boxster engines after doing my research but didnt hve this info AWSOME vid thnk you. A good majority out there ive seen in the shop recommend to use the exact same gasket number you said not to use and hve it fail again great information definitely subing A+
BEST VIDEO EVER on Subaru head gasket issues !!!!!!I absolutely learned so much, and you dispelled so many myths... I have a normally aspirated, 2009 Subaru outback that has been meticulously cared for, coolant changed early, best high-quality oil’s and filters, babied the car... So far no problems for 130,000 miles. Is mine a single layer head gasket that definitely will need to be replaced ??? I was hoping to get 300,000 miles out of this car...If the head gasket goes, I want you to repair it, we only have a subpar dealer in town. Thanks so much for an awesome, instructional video!!!!! Do you work close to Pennsylvania?
Yes, the 09 SOHC 2.5L still used the single layer coated gasket from the factory.
@@MrSubaru1387 They did have some improvements over the ~06 and before models though, right?
@@802Garage they sucked conditioner just prolonged their life
I bought a 2004 Subaru Impreza with head gaskets that were done at 50k miles and they took it to an independent shop. I specifically bought the car because it had them done and 70k miles later I might have to redo them again. This is why I don’t trust anyone but myself to work on my cars. I bet the mechanics didn’t recondition the heads. It’s an extra $100 but completely worth it. I did them on my 98 Legacy GT and paid the extra money to redo the heads. I’m still in the process of of troubleshooting a misfire on cylinder 4 on start up that goes away after 5 seconds. Spark plugs and wires are done, fuel injector is next and coil pack. If that doesn’t work I’m just going to say screw it and sea foam the engine. If not radiator is coming out and leak test is next since compression test was over 200.
Multi-Layer Steel gaskets FTW
Thanks for the info shared on Subaru head gasket. I have 2009 Subaru Forester X 2.5L SOHC non Turbo. I am confused if the MLS head gasket you held up will fit in my subaru engine because the lining and holes provision looks different in the picture. Can you help me out here ? Tanner
Is the follow up video going to cover all of the models with cracked windshields Subaru refuses to acknowledge? I sense a theme here. I really like the 2020 Outback but if Subaru can’t stand behind their products, count me out.
great explanation! i was about to buy a ej25 outback from the dark ages (around 2005). checked if some critical spares were available in my country (not many subarus in argentina) and found out a lot of head gaskets were available for 2.5... seemed suspicious and started researching. now found this, hehe
Best informative and honest video ive ever watched. Your advice is gold sir. If anyone is thinking of tackling this job, or even bringing it in to a professional, watch this first and you wont be ripped off. I feel like I know Kung Fu after watching this
I sold my 2003 Forester with 237k miles on it a few years back with the original head gaskets. My 2005 Saab 9-2x has 191k miles and is still going strong on the original head gaskets. Change my oil and coolant on a regular basis, never had a problem. The Subaru haters are trolls with nothing better to do with their lives and probably have never owned a Subaru. Outside of the late 90’s dual cam 2.5’s and the early 00’s single cam 2.5’s mentioned in the video you shouldn’t have a problem if you properly care for your car.
Just because you didn't have an issue doesn't mean hundreds of thousands of other people didn't, Changed my oil regularly and have now had 2 HG problems in the year i've had the car (140000 mi)
@@caade_1967 I’m going to assume you bought a used car and that you didn’t put 140k miles on your Subaru in one year. In that case it might be a case where the previous owner abused the car and that’s a chance you take with any used car, Subaru or otherwise. The other question is how can you have two head gaskets in a single year if the first repair was done properly? The first head gasket is probably on the previous owner. The second head gasket you can blame on your mechanic who obviously botched the repair. I understand your frustration but there is no way you can blame Subaru for two bad head gaskets in a single year if the first repair had been done properly.